


You're On My Skin and I'm Under Yours

by EzzyDean



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, Multi, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2016-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-20 19:21:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6021903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EzzyDean/pseuds/EzzyDean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are hundreds of ways to define and describe soulmates.  </p>
<p>It's not always your best friend and it's not always who you expect.</p>
<p>But more often than not they complete you in a way you didn't even realize you were looking for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Kageyama & Tsukishima

> _A soul mate isn’t necessarily the person you love most. It’s the person who sincerely challenges you in the aspects of life that everyone else can’t. Soul mates fight. But god damn they love, too. - Trevor Harvey_

 

“You are without a doubt the most aggravating person I’ve ever known.  And I know Kuroo.”  Their noses are nearly touching, heat radiating off two sets of angrily flushed cheeks, and Kei feels his lips turn up into a sneer.  He could probably count every eyelash on Kageyama’s face this close if he wanted to, can definitely see the varying shades of blues in his eyes, and the tiniest hint of freckles from being out in the sun all summer.  He can also feel Kageyama’s heavy breath settling across his lips, warm and familiar and far too intimate for what they’re doing, and sometimes… sometimes Kei wonders just why they have to get into each other’s spaces so much when they argue.  Why they lean in close enough to touch nearly head to toe, bodies flushed with anger, fingers trembling, and nerves thrumming with… well everything.  It’s too much to bear sometimes.  So he leans away, pulls himself back up to his full height, and looks down his nose at Kageyama.  “You know what?  Do whatever you want.  What do I care?”

It takes him forty-three minutes to come back after nearly slamming the door shut behind him.  Sometimes he thinks that maybe it’s too much.  That something obviously went wrong somewhere down the line and whatever twist of fate that led to him being Kageyama’s soul mate was really just a knotted thread.  Just a few more tugs, a few more arguments and heated words, and the whole thing would come unraveled.  Sometimes he looks down at the mark around his ring finger, the band of shifting blues and purples and reds, and turns his hand over to read Kageyama’s name resting there just above his palm and wonders.

 

_It had been one of their last games in their final year of high school and Kei had landed after a particularly difficult block and turned to see Kageyama’s hand held up for a high five and, for whatever reason, for the first time ever he reciprocated the gesture.  Their palms met and Kei watched in wonder - and a touch of fear - as the solid black line around his ring finger suddenly shimmered and shuddered into a blur of color.  He had jerked his hand away with a scowl and Kageyama had simply tilted his head a little and shrugged.  After three years he was mostly used to Kei’s sudden shifts in mood when it came to that border of friendly and too friendly.  When Kei switched out he had wrapped a little extra tape around his fingers, covering the band and ignoring Yamaguchi’s questioning glance, and watched as Kageyama absently rubbed at his wristband with his mind most likely already back on the game and far away from Kei’s strange actions._

_Kei waited for the reaction.  Waited for the shouts from Hinata or Kageyama after the game.  He waited while they changed.  Waited while they drug themselves out for food.  Waited while they trudged to the bus and flopped onto the seats with weary sighs.  He knew there was no way Kageyama had missed it.  He was wearing a different wristband, this one almost more of a bracelet, instead of the cloth one he wore during games and even if he was an idiot sometimes Kei had come to acknowledge that Kageyama was actually rather observant about a lot of things even if he didn’t know how to show it well._

_He had been lost in his own thoughts as the bus started up and then someone had moved his bag out of the spot next to him - where he put it because he liked riding alone most of the time - and dropped themselves into the now open spot.  Mouth opening to tell them to fuck off he stopped when a pale wrist filled his vision._

_What was once no doubt a black band - he could only assume because Kageyama rarely went without a band or bracelet of some kind covering his mark - was now gold and silver shimmering between two thin black lines.  Then Kageyama turned his palm towards Kei and he saw his name in thin white strokes against the skin.  Kei held out his own hand, palm up and free of the tape on his fingers, and watched Kageyama carefully touch the band, finger hovering over his name for a moment, and then nod.  Then he went back to his own seat and Kei was left alone with his thoughts._

 

Kei is always a little worried when he comes back after times like this.  Worried that this time will be the time he pushed to hard with his snappy words and cold glares and that he will come home to an empty apartment.

The first thing that tumbles from his lips when he sees Kageyama curled up in the chair wearing one of Kei’s sweatshirts and playing with the cuffs is “I’m sorry, Tobio,” and the next thing he says as he sinks in front of Kageyama and rests his head against Kageyama’s bent knees is “I love you.”

 

—

 

Having a soulmate isn’t easy.  Tobio understands this well.  Especially when you and your soulmate both have troubles with communicating even after spending years together.  

He runs his thumb along the shimmering gold and silver band around his wrist and stares at the crisp script in the center, right over his veins.  He hasn’t taken the words Tsukishima flings at him while they’re fighting to heart since sometime the year after high school.  Not since the time Tsukishima had sneered at him with frustrated tears in his eyes because neither of them could make the other understand what they wanted and they had wound up spending the night sprawled on the couch, exhausted, before finally admitting that maybe there was something there between them, something there for them to strive for together.

Tobio’s never been sure why the fact that Tsukishima is his soulmate feels so right.  They argue a lot.  They push each other’s buttons without even thinking about it.  Tsukishima is prickly most days but, maybe luckily, Tobio can be hard to crack.

He stares at the swirling colors peeking out from the sweatshirt he took from Tsukishima’s side of the closet and remembers.

 

_They had just finished the game, winning but barely, and he was rubbing at his wristband, wondering where they were going to be taken for food and if he remembered to do his homework and reminding himself to remember to toss his wristband in the laundry because his wrist was starting to itch.  He was about to tug it off and stuff it in his bag but something stopped him.  He paused and Hinata rushed over to yell at him about something to do with the game and he let his attention wander to his friend.  It wasn’t until they had all changed and he was about to slide the bracelet that Yachi had gotten him for his birthday last year on that he realized his mark had changed.  He slowly turned his wrist over to see the name printed there and jumped when Hinata called out from the door to hurry up._

_He wasn’t sure why he didn’t confront Tsukishima right away.  It’s not like the two of them ever shied from arguments around their team.  But something, maybe that same instinctual something that kept him from pulling his wristband up earlier when Hinata was right there, kept him quiet.  He let his thoughts be dragged away from the silvery gold on his wrist and focused on the food in front of him._

_When the bus finally started towards home and the rest of the team was mostly asleep Tobio finally gave in to his curiosity and slipped back to Tsukishima’s seat.  He moved the bag and sat down, sticking his wrist in front of Tsukishima’s face before he could yell at him and watched the way his eyes widened as Tobio turned his hand towards Tsukishima so he could see the thin white lines that made up his name on Tobio’s wrist.  Tsukishima held out his own hand and Tobio saw his name neatly settled just above Tsukishima’s palm on a band of purple and blue around his ring finger.  He touched it gently, reassuring himself that it was real, that_ this _was real, and then went back to his seat._

_They could deal with the rest when it came._

When Tsukishima storms out parts of Tobio are always sure he won’t be back.  That this will be the time Tobio turns around and there’s no one there.  No sarcastic remarks, no raised eyebrows, no scoffing laughs.  This time the door won’t open and Tsukishima won’t look at him in wonder and shock when he sees him still here.

That his voice won’t shake when he says Tobio’s name and stumbles over an apology.  That he won’t hear the way Tsukishima’s breath catches as he says “I love you,” and waits for Tobio’s response.

Tobio picks up Tsukishima’s hand from where it’s tangled in the sweatshirt Tobio borrowed and kisses the band on his finger.

“I’m sorry too,” he mumbles against the skin, “I love you, Kei.”


	2. Oikawa & Yamaguchi

> _Soul-mates aren’t the ones who make you happiest, no. They’re the ones who make you feel you the most. Burning edges and scars and stars. Old pains and pangs, captivation and beauty. Strain and shadows and worry and yearning. Sweetness and madness and dreamlike surrender. They hurl you into the abyss. They taste like hope.  - Victoria Erickson_

 

Once upon a time, had you asked him, Oikawa Tooru wouldn’t have hesitated to tell you that his soulmate was Iwaizumi.  Iwaizumi was his best friend.  He was always there for Tooru.  He knew Tooru better than anyone.  Knew his strengths and weaknesses and favorite foods and exactly which of his smiles were fake and which were real.  Knew when to push Tooru and when to drag him away from things.

What’s a soulmate, after all, if it’s not the person who knows you best in the world and the person you feel the most secure with?

It didn’t matter that their marks never reacted.  It wasn’t instantaneous, sometimes the marks only colored after interacting with someone for years, and sometimes they never filled in at all but people still lived.  Still got married and had families even without being their spouse’s soulmate.  Sometimes soulmates were friends you found later in life, long after you stopped looking for “something more” and realized what was right in front of your face.

When Iwaizumi’s mark - a delicate feather that sets against the hollow of his throat - blooms in soft greys and pale pinks with a name that isn’t Tooru’s set in the middle and Tooru’s own mark stays dark he wonders if he needs to rethink his definition of a soulmate.  Because if Iwaizumi isn’t his soulmate, Iwaizumi who knows him better than anyone and who will never leave his side no matter how far away they are from each other, then really… what’s a soulmate?

 

He finds out that it’s nothing he ever expected.

Tooru traces random patterns down Yamaguchi’s arm, fingers lingering on the heavy swirl of teal and gold that bears his name in a delicate dark script on the pale inside of Yamaguchi’s arm near his elbow.  The answering mark lies across the curve of Tooru’s right shoulder, a splash of pale yellow and blue dots with pieces of Yamaguchi’s name in each one in strong silver strokes.

He remembers bumping into Yamaguchi outside the gym in his second year at University.  The way Yamaguchi’s eyes had widened in surprise and he had stumbled over Tooru’s name a little.  He hadn’t remembered Yamaguchi then other than a vague flashing of Tobio-chan and Karasuno through his brain and handn’t thought of much of anything other than getting back to his room for a decent shower and a long night getting intimate with the essay he had due in a few days.

It was after the shower that he had noticed the pale splotches of color on his shoulder and felt his stomach dropping to his feet.

“Yamaguchi Tadashi,” he he muttered to himself while his surprisingly steady hands had traced over the colors over and over again.

 

_Getting to know Yamaguchi brings back a lot of memories of high school and a bitter tang of loss seems to coat everything for a little while.  Loss of seeing his team all the time.  Loss of the last grips of childhood.  Loss seeing his fellow third years nearly every day.  The loss of high school volleyball.  Loss of all his hard work.  The final loss of the mighty Aoba Johsai, teal crown tumbling to the feet of the black wings of Karasuno._

_Getting to know Yamaguchi reminds him of all the hours spent practicing and taping fingers and ankles and knees.  At first Yamaguchi’s smile is synonymous with the flare of pain that still wrenches through his knee from time to time.  His laughter is the sound of that final ball hitting the floor.  His hesitant voice makes Tooru want to pull his hair out with the unfairness of it all._

_But getting to know Yamaguchi slowly tumbles into_ knowing _Yamaguchi. His smile soothes away the pain with warmth.  His laughter clears Tooru’s head.  His voice is one that makes Tooru want to stand a little taller, smile a little more sincerely, grow a little more._

Knowing _Yamaguchi is an experience that Tooru can barely contain.  His pulse races and skitters when they’re close.  His cheeks flare up with heat when Yamaguchi bites his lip.  His fingers shake with an urge to touch and reach out and pull Yamaguchi into his space.  His throat goes dry when Yamaguchi turns to him, eyes lit with laughter, and bumps his forehead into Tooru’s shoulder with a playful shove.  There was something infinitely indescribably beautiful about_ knowing _Yamaguchi Tadashi that Tooru will be thankful for his entire life._

 

–

 

Tadashi shifts, the nerves in his arm bordering on over-stimulation where Oikawa’s fingers are rubbing, and smiles when he opens his eyes and sees Oikawa’s eyes locked on his mark but glazed and distant.  Getting to watch Oikawa was amazing.  Getting to watch Oikawa unguarded and without the mask he wore around most people was something that Tadashi would never tire of.

Sometimes he still wonders when he’ll wake up and find out this was all a dream.

 

_He almost hadn’t recognized the person he bumped into outside of the gym.  His hair was sweat-dampened and not it’s usually fluffy perfection, the bags under his eyes had shrunk considerably despite being in University now and not high school, and the glasses that framed his eyes all served to make Oikawa Tooru seem very much different than the intimidating figure Tadashi had last seen across the net.  He was still intimidating and Tadashi had stumbled over his apology, stumbling worse when he realized who he had bumped into._

_It wasn’t until he was changing into a different set of clothes after a long workout, peeling the light cloth brace he wore over his elbow off with a grimace, that he noticed the change in his mark._

_He had nearly passed out when he realized the name in the middle of it._

_He had never had a crush on Oikawa, and even if he did Oikawa was far enough out of his reach he never really let himself even fantasize about it.  He also never really expected to find his soulmate.  Or if he did he had expected it to be Tsukki until his best friend had hesitantly peeled the bandages off his finger late one night just before graduation and let Tadashi see the swirling color of his band._

_The Oikawa Tooru everyone knew was radiant.  He was brilliant and hard working.  He laughed easily and his smile made you weak in the knees._

_The Oikawa Tooru that Tadashi got to know was radiant in a different way.  He was bitingly sarcastic and huge sci-fi nerd.  His smiles didn’t always reach his eyes but when they did they made Tadashi feel like the ground was collapsing under him._

Tadashi reaches up slowly and tangles his fingers in Oikawa’s hair, pulling him into a kiss before Oikawa can fully react.  It’s soft and sweet in a way that Oikawa usually isn’t to people and Tadashi hums happily at the swell of thoughts and feelings that rush through him from that simple connection of lips.

 

–

 

Soulmates, Tooru has decided, are people who, despite not seeming perfect for each other, perfect each other.  They drag parts of you - the bad memories, the harsh edges, the biting tones, the questionable personality - into the open and make you stop and look.  They don’t coat your life in sugar and they don’t overlook your mistakes.  But they do push you to overcome.  They remind you of old pains but soothe them with new memories.  Soulmates may not know you the best, they may not be your best friend or even the person you’re in love with, but damn if they don’t make your life more vibrant and exciting just by existing next to you.


	3. Nishinoya & Kenma

> _Maybe that’s what a soulmate is. Not someone who shares every single thing in common with you, but someone who feels like home._

 

_Kenma scowls for the third time that hour and carefully drops his phone into the grass next to him.  His eyes flicker around the grassy lot outside the gym and he watches the players around him gear themselves up to return to practice.  Shouyou and Lev are chattering away with exaggerated motions while Kageyama looks on in mild concern.  Tora and Tanaka are in their usual keyed up moods, egging each other on with shouts and insults that just seem to make them both laugh while Ennoshita tries - and fails but it’s a valiant try on his part - to drag them away from each other back towards the gym.  His eyes dart through his teammates and finds almost every one of them talking to a member of Karasuno and a small smile tips the corner of his lips up.  Because this is what Kuro wanted after he graduated.  Karasuno’s captain too, if he remembers Kuro’s babbling correctly._

_His eyes land on Yuuki and he’s glad to see him talking to Karasuno’s libero.  He knew that as one of the few now second years who didn’t play regularly last year he had felt out of place, especially stepping into Yaku’s shoes and he’s glad to see Nishinoya seemingly happy to take his fellow libero under his wing.  Though it is a bit usual to see Nishinoya so calm and quiet outside of an actual game._

_He suddenly looks up, like he can sense Kenma watching him, and Kenma’s eyes widen when their gazes meet.  He feels like a mouse caught in a trap when that gaze catches him and he drops his eyes to his knees.  He rubs at his ankle for a moment and then Tora is running up to him and dragging him to his feet to get back to the gym.  He has enough time to grab his phone before he’s once again swept back into the exhausting world of volleyball._

Kenma traces the perfect circle on his ankle, a crow’s eye with a brilliant honey colored iris and a dark black pupil with flashy orange script in the center, and watches the sun falling to the horizon.  Watching, always watching.  It’s unnerving to be the center of all that attention.  To be on the receiving end of that wild gaze.  It’s unnerving but he finds that he doesn’t mind it as much as he used to.  He’s never going to be completely comfortable being doted on by Yuu but the routine of it, the warmth of Yuu’s presence, is comforting somehow.

He shakes his head.  It doesn’t even make sense to him.  All he knows is that he somehow wound up with one of the most unlikely soulmates ever.

Because Yuu is emotion and passion and energy.  Bright colors and fast movements.  Rocking the boat and running just to see how far he can go before he collapses and pushing himself a little further before he finally gives in.  He seems to be everything that Kenma isn’t - outgoing where Kenma is quiet, passionate where Kenma is calm, sharp edges where Kenma is soft - but it’s in a way that isn’t completely overwhelming somehow.

“Sorry I’m late,” Yuu huffs out a breath as he collapses onto the bench, leaning his head against Kenma’s shoulder, “practice ran long and then I got caught up talking to one of my coaches.  You weren’t waiting too long were you?”

He’s been here most of the afternoon but had spent a lot of the time playing on his phone and talking to Shouyou.  So technically he hasn’t been waiting on Yuu too long and he shakes his head.

Yuu knows better, knows him better, because he laughs and rolls his eyes, tucking a few strands of purple tinted bangs that slipped loose from his ponytail behind his ear before he sits up.

 

–

 

_Noya is used to being watched.  He’s loud and flashy off the court and quiet on it.  Flashy in a different way.  But no matter what he’s used to it.  Used to the wavering attention, gaze on him when he’s in play and back off when he settles on the sidelines. _Used to the different weights of gazes.__

__That’s why he can tell the moment Kenma’s gaze lands on him outside the gym.  He’s talking to Shibiyama who is a determined libero and reminds Noya a bit of himself but quieter.  He’s passionate and funny and he just wants to do Morisuke proud by being the best libero he can be for Nekoma.  He finishes explaining something to Shibiyama quietly, because that’s how Shibiyama learns and despite how he acts Noya is good at determining how to teach others what they need to know, and then looks up and meets Kenma’s gaze._ _

__Kenma always looks startled when someone notices him.  Like he’s not used to anyone realizing he’s there.  It makes Noya want to keep looking, makes him wonder what things Kenma manages to hide from the world just by being so calm and quiet.  A quick mind for sure.  You don’t have to play against him long to know that._ _

__But before he can really think about anything Kenma’s eyes drop and then Ryuu is calling for him to hurry up._ _

__

Noya watches the way the last light of the day seems to paint Kenma golden.  He glances down at the mark on the inside of his arm.  It’s always been surrounded by colors, the blues and purples and greens of bruises, and he still wonders sometimes how long it had been colored it before he had even realized it.  The yellow gold cat’s-eye stares up at him, Kenma’s name cautiously settled just outside the darkened pupil, and he smiles.

It doesn’t matter how long they were matched before they realized.  Because they’re together now and when Noya wakes up in the morning and drags himself out of bed to find Kenma on the couch, still most likely awake from the night before, and flops across his lap he knows there’s no place he’d rather be than here with Kenma.

Kenma knows what it’s like to be watched.  Knows the weight of gazes on him.  His eyes don’t move but he still sighs.

“Why are you staring at me?”

Responses flood Noya’s mind in an instant: _you’re amazing, I love you, you’re breathtaking, you make me feel safe, you make me feel like I’m home._

“Because, Kozume Kenma, you are infinitely fascinating.”  He watches the blush touch Kenma’s cheeks before he dips his head forward and hides behind his long hair.  Noya grins.  “Even if I was blind I’d still be drawn to you.  You’re brilliant and your mind’s so sharp I don’t know how you don’t hurt yourself with it.”  Noya leans in close and whispers.  “And even if you weren’t the one to make my mark bloom I’d still want to be here with you.  Because if home were a person mine would always, _always_ , be you.”


	4. Iwaizumi & Sugawara

> _what if the voice inside your head is your soulmate’s?_
> 
> _… well then my soulmate sure is an asshole._

 

_At first all Koushi knows is that when he pulled his gloves on before leaving the house the mark twined around his wrist and up to his finger was black and when he peels his gloves off at the coffee shop when he and Daichi find an open table and gratefully drop into the seats the mark suddenly resembles a dark green vine._

_“Holy shit,” Koushi mutters and Daichi’s eyes snap to him, mouth opening to chastise him for his language before he drops his eyes to Koushi’s trembling arm and his mouth snaps shut.  
_

_“Holy shit,” Daichi agrees.  Then he’s glancing around the shop, looking for anyone else suddenly realizing their mark has filled with color.  Koushi just stares at the color on his arm.  At the way the dark green stands out against his pale skin even more than the stark black had.  His eyes drift to Daichi’s chest where Daichi’s own mark is buried under layers of shirts and his jacket and he kicks Daichi’s shin, staring meaningfully when Daichi turns to him with a frown.  
_

_Daichi comes back from the bathroom and shakes his head; his own blocky marks over his heart are still as black as ever._

_Koushi does his best to remember what has happened since he left his house.  Who they’ve run into and who he’s interacted with.  But no one familiar other than Daichi comes to mind.  Of course he’d be just lucky enough to wind up with a complete stranger as a soulmate.  Maybe he missed his chance and would never see them again._

_Then he notices the pale turquoise lettering where the vine-like mark crosses his palm._

_“Oh my,” he mutters when he realizes what it says.  “Fuck.”  
_

_“Suga!”  Daichi does chastise him that time but Koushi’s eyes are already distant as they try to make out the line of backs outside the far windows.  Four friends all decked out in matching teal and white stocking hats.  
_

“Does anyone else know how much of an asshole you can be?”  Hajime is laughing even as he asks the question and Koushi laughs with him.  Hajime pulls him close and covers his cheeks with kisses and Koushi would let that distract him but he’s on a mission.

“Come on!”  Koushi presses the tip of his finger to Hajime’s throat, edge of his vine touching the center of the delicate feather resting on Hajime’s skin, and then darts out of the shelter of the park gazebo into the downpour.

They’re already drenched from their run into the park and they’ll both probably get sick before the week is out but it’s worth it when Hajime lets out a fake disgusted sigh and chases after him.  He lets Hajime get close enough to brush his fingers against his damp skin once, twice, half a dozen times before Hajime suddenly leaps forward and wrap his arms around Koushi’s waist, pulling him back into Hajime’s chest.

“You’re mine now,” Hajime growls into Koushi’s ear and he shivers.

“I’ve always been yours.”  Koushi smiles and turns in Hajime’s arms so he can hook his own behind Hajime’s neck and pull him down those couple inches until their lips meet.

 

–

 

_Hajime doesn’t even notice anything different until they’re all back at Matsukawa’s house and tossing their winter jackets and scarves and hats aside and Oikawa suddenly gasps.  He looks around in confusion, trying to figure out what set his best friend off into the tizzy he looks like he’s gearing himself up for, and then he’s being shoved down the hallway to the bathroom.  It’s a tight fit with Oikawa pressed beside him but he doesn’t really notice when Oikawa tugs the collar of his shirt down even further and he nearly misses his mark on his skin._

_The dark blob of a feather has softened with pale colors.  A light pink overall with soft gray outlines and he has to lean close because he’s never expected anything so soft and delicate looking to be on him of all people._

_He meets Oikawa’s eyes in the mirror and Oikawa tugs his own shirt until they can see the still black circles on his shoulder and they both lean in again to look at Hajime’s mark closer._

_“Sugawara Koushi?”  The name is familiar but it doesn’t make his heart beat faster or scatter his thoughts or do anything he would have thought finding out his soulmate’s name would do.  
_

_“Karasuno’s number two.”  Oikawa answers and it makes sense.  Hajime has a flash of thought of ashen hair and determined eyes and he nods.  
_

He presses down against Suga’s lips, crushing his own against them as the rain beats down around him.  He doesn’t care that they’re in the middle of the park.  He doesn’t care that the rain has soaked through everything he’s wearing.  He doesn’t care about anything other than the way Suga’s breath catches in his throat when Hajime deepens the kiss and straightens, bringing Suga onto the balls of his feet to keep contact.  He doesn’t care about his hair being matted to his forehead because Suga is in his arms and pressed close and the world could probably crash to a halt around them right now and Hajime wouldn’t even blink at it.

He tightens his grip on Suga’s hips for a moment, fingers digging in just hard enough to make Suga gasp and flush, and then he presses a quick kiss to the tip of Suga’s nose and starts jogging away.

“That’s just cruel,” Suga pouts before he chases after Hajime.  “You’re a tease Iwaizumi.”

Suga catches up to him near the entrance and tangles their fingers together as they slowly jog back to their apartment.  They’re a shivering mess by the time they get inside and he’s not sure if they’re helping or hindering each other as they attempt to peel each other out of their clothes.  Cool air hits his damp skin and he hisses at the sensation, goosebumps crawling along his arms when Suga kisses his throat softly before turning to grab towels.

He knows the moment Suga’s thoughts turn reflective and sour.  The light in his eyes drops a notch as he skims them over Hajime and his shoulders look tight when he turns away and wraps the towel around himself.  Hajime quickly dries off and hooks his arms around Suga’s waist before he can get too far away, ignoring Suga’s half hearted protests as Hajime drags him to their room.

“I’m with you, Suga.  Always.”  He scatters kisses across Suga’s shoulders as he sits behind him and dries Suga’s hair.  “You can’t get rid of me,” he teases and he can feel Suga starting to relax against him.  “I have a spot in your closet.  I know how to make you coffee in the morning.  You’ve seen me in my embarrassing underwear.  You’re stuck with me forever and ever and ever.”  Hajime nuzzles at Suga’s neck, blowing huffs of air against his ear, until Suga laughs and pushes his face away.

Then he drags them both under the blankets and rolls them around until they’re cocooned in warmth and each other’s arms.

“Always?” Suga whispers. 

“Always,” he promises again as they doze off.  He’ll say it as many times as Suga needs to hear it.


	5. Kuroo, Daichi, & Tanaka

> _“And then my soul saw you and it kind of went ‘Oh, there you are. I’ve been looking for you.’” -  Iain Thomas_

 

Ryuu remembers a lot of things.  He remembers the way his palm would sting after volleyball practice.  He remembers the tang of sweat dripping to the corner of his mouth to be picked up with the flick of his tongue.  He remembers falling asleep on the bus with Noya’s head slumped against his shoulder.

There are plenty of things he doesn’t remember.  He doesn’t remember most of the days spent in classes.  Doesn’t remember the formulas and equations drilled into his head.  Doesn’t remember specifics of the long hours of practice after school each day.

He remembers the way it felt to see the third years graduate, their shoulders seeming so much wider than they really were.

He doesn’t remember the looks on their faces though.

He remembers the feel of Daichi’s palm warm against his back, telling him to take care of the team.  He can’t remember what he said in reply but it had made Daichi laugh and the sound had grounded Ryuu.

He remembers hearing about Daichi’s marks finally filling in with color because of the former Nekoma captain.  He remembers smiling when he heard the news.  He doesn’t remember the drinks he had that night.  Doesn’t remember the fight that had led to him earning a black eye and a broken finger.

 _Ryuu stares at his mark.  At the horribly boring black squares that were on his left calf.  He’s never hated them before.  Never felt like such a failure for them to be dark while all his friends’ marks color their skin.  He’s not stupid.  He never really expected his crush on Daichi to really_ lead _to anything.  But it had always been there, in the back of his mind, that maybe he just needed to wait.  Maybe they were just a case of soulmates who weren’t ready to click yet._

_It’s not like he can’t be with someone who isn’t his soulmate.  But he wouldn’t feel right being with someone who has a soulmate already.  Not really.  Not when they would be complete and he’d just be an extra._

_He doesn’t remember making the decision to leave.  Just remembers packing and closing the door behind him._

 

–

 

Daichi laughs at the way Kuroo’s fingers tickle against his ribs.  The move was innocent, incredibly sweet actually, but Daichi’s sides will forever be his weak point and Kuroo sometimes forgets it when he goes to pull Daichi close or - like now - when he pulls Daichi out of someone’s way in the middle of the bar.  A startled gasp, or at least a sharp inhale of breath, has him twisting to look over his shoulder.  He almost doesn’t recognize the person standing there.

Tanaka has let his hair grow out and the lanky muscled body Daichi remembers from high school fills the tank top and tight jeans Tanaka is wearing rather nicely.  His face has filled out too.  Jaw more defined and mature.  But it’s his eyes that give him away. They’re widened in surprise until a moment after Daichi turns but then they narrow into that familiar sharp gaze and Daichi wonders if Tanaka still has that strange blue/grey/gold thing going on with his eyes that he had back in high school.

A flush suddenly splashes across Tanaka’s cheeks when he glances down and spots Kuroo’s fingers still tight on Daichi’s side and then he blinks rapidly and spins to leave.

“Tanaka!”  Daichi follows him out of the bar and manages to snag the hem of his shirt and catch him off balance.

 

_Daichi frowns as he listens to Suga, shaking his head when Kuroo makes an inquisitive noise._

_“What do you mean gone?”  
_

_“Apparently he told his sister he was leaving and he just… left.”  Suga sighs.  “I’m worried about him.  He’s been gone over three months now.  It’s not like him to just up and leave without even telling Noya.”  
_

_He lets Kuroo pull him down into a cuddly hug on the couch after he ends the call._

_“Tanaka?”  Kuroo hums thoughtfully as he traces over Daichi’s mark over his shirt.  “That the one who was always shouting with Yamamoto?  Energetic?  Took off his shirt a lot?”  
_

_Daichi laughs a little as he remembers Tanaka’s intense shirt spinning moments._

_“Yeah.”  
_

_“I always wanted to get to know him.  He seemed like a fun guy.”  
_

_“Tanaka’s the best,” Daichi mutters as he remembers the last time they had talked._

_He had told Tanaka to look out for the team, and himself, after graduation and Tanaka had smiled - that smile that always made Daichi feel like he was standing at the edge of a cliff with his stomach in his throat - and said “Anything for you, Daichi.”  
_

 

_–_

 

_Tetsurou traces the lines of his mark curiously.  The squares between his knuckles are filled with a brilliant golden color but each one seems to be missing a piece.  A tiny diamond of black still sits somewhere in each mark and while he’s sure that technically they could just be part of the mark - no one really knows how they work or why they start black or what the shapes even mean really - somehow he knows that’s not it.  It’s not because it’s just part of the mark.  He confirms this each time he sees Daichi’s mark; the blocky gradient of whites and pale reds has solid black squares scattered through the pattern._

_It never feels like there’s something missing in their relationship, never feels like something is missing between them, but it does occasionally feel like there’s supposed to be more.  Like they each have a space inside themselves that’s just waiting for that final moment of realization to be filled with… something._

_Daichi smiles when he tries to explain it.  C_ _overs his face in grateful kisses because Tetsurou understands.  Tetsurou understands that while there’s nothing missing there’s something more out there for them._

Tetsurou catches up to them just in time to watch Daichi push the other guy against the brick wall of the corner of the bar.

“’Anything for you, Daichi’?” Daichi hisses angrily and it’s then that it clicks for Tetsurou.

This is Tanaka.  This is the crow that had disappeared on his former teammates without a word the summer after he graduated.

“Maybe we should take this back to our place?  Daichi?”  He touches the back of Daichi’s neck and sees him shudder under the touch.  “I’m sure none of us want to get arrested or anything.”

A few people have given them wary looks but no one seems too concerned yet.  But Tetsurou would much rather they take this someplace a little more private.  Especially since he can see the way Daichi’s fingers are trembling when they curl into his palms and he knows Daichi’s on edge.

He wraps one arm around Daichi’s waist and pulls him back from Tanaka but before the other man can disappear down the alley, and probably back out of Daichi’s life again, he also snags Tanaka’s elbow.

“By we I mean all three of us.”  Tanaka scowls at him but his eyes flicker to Daichi and he spots something on Daichi’s face that drains any fight out of him.  Tetsurou doesn’t take his hand off of Tanaka’s elbow, even though he doesn’t seem like he plans on darting off into the night and he keeps his other hand tucked against Daichi’s back.

 

–

 

His jaw still throbs a little from where Daichi had hit him practically the moment they stumbled into Daichi and Kuroo’s apartment and it’s not like he blames Daichi any for it.  Had one of his friends disappeared for almost seven years without a word he would probably be pissed off too.

Kuroo had reached out to stop Daichi’s second swing and then sucked in a breath in surprise.  Daichi’s eyes had gone wide when he spotted the back of Kuroo’s hand but Ryuu hadn’t understood why and had taken the moment to stumble away and shut himself in the first room he found.

_It was too much seeing Daichi again after so many years.  Hearing his laugh had shocked the hell out of him and then having Daichi right in his space had been unfair.  Every moment and memory of their interactions that he had packed away, every thought about being with Daichi that he had carefully put aside and hidden away, had all come flooding back on the walk here.  Kuroo’s warm hand on his elbow was the only thing that had kept him from bolting.  He probably could have shook off the grip and left but something about the way Kuroo’s fingers felt on his skin settled him._

_He stumbled away from Daichi and Kuroo, away from things that aren’t his to have, and nearly falls into the bathroom._

_Everything is too much and his calf itches and his jaw hurts and he looks wild eyed and frantic in the mirror before he sinks away from it and braces his back against the wall.  He hikes up the bottom of his pants and…_

Ryuu stares down at the mark on his calf - white squares bleeding into gold - in the harsh bathroom lights.   He pokes at the colors on his skin, a little mesmerized by them.  There’s a knock at the door, and he hears a voice talking to him, but his blood is pumping in his ears, pulse beating out a rhythm that he can’t focus past.  It feels like it’s been forever since he’s even let himself think about having a soulmate and now there’s color on his skin and he has no idea how or why or even who.  

He watches, dumbfounded, as Daichi’s name fills one square with deep orange strokes and then Kuroo’s glides into another in deep red.

His fingers tremble against his skin as the voice comes again.  It’s Kuroo’s voice, he realizes as the door starts to open, and his hand covers his mark instinctively.

“Tanaka?”  Kuroo pokes his head inside, eyes darting around and then sinking down to land on him.  “You okay?”

Ryuu watches him and it feels like Kuroo’s name is burning against the skin of his hand, begging to be known.  Then Kuroo is easing into the bathroom and sitting down on the toilet, feet just inches from Ryuu and hands hanging between his knees.  His fingers slowly clench and Ryuu notices the colors between his knuckles.  Bright gold outlines around a greyish purple diamond and he swallows hard against the lump suddenly in his throat.

Because there in a wild splash of silver is his name and in solid strokes of orange Daichi’s is beside his.

Tanaka’s hand trembles against his calf when Kuroo holds his out so Ryuu can see the colors better.

“Finally,” Ryuu whispers as he carefully touches Kuroo’s knuckles.  His touch is light, he knows, but he feels like if he touches too much this will end and he’ll wake up somewhere hundreds of miles away with black squares on his calf and no one beside him.

Kuroo smiles and tangles their fingers together to pull Ryuu into a hug and… and Ryuu feels like he’s found a place to stay.  When Daichi steps into the doorway, shirtless, and Ryuu spots the white and red and grey purple gradient above his heart and sees the smile on Daichi’s face he knows he’s finally found his way home.

“There you are,” Daichi says softly as he watches Kuroo pull Ryuu to his feet.

“Here I am.”


End file.
